How can media agencies move up the value chain? With a change in their established positioning as ‘media agencies’, moving from being planners and buyers who save clients money to consultants who help clients make money, and by training their talent including at the senior most levels to embrace the entire process of marketing, among other things.
These were the takeaways from a panel that discussed media agencies ‘Breaking the mould’ on the third and final day of Goafest 2023.
Moderated by Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, the discussion featured Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM; Amin Lakhani, CEO - South Asia, Mindshare; Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India; and Naveen Khemka, CEO - South Asia, Essence Mediacom.
Balsara opened the talk with a question on established agency structures and whether that needs to change.
“Perhaps we need to step back. Media agencies best understand the consumer journey. In this complex world, media agencies are best placed for that. As far as agency structure and ways of working go, there are two or three things. One is going client-centric rather than function-centric. The other is having ‘fixed and fluid’ teams where people are not stuck to one business. There are learnings you get across. We will need to take a hard look at ourselves,” noted Mishra.
In the course of the discussion, Balsara noted that a think tank has been at work for six months to create guidelines for media agency remuneration, something he said would be presented to the AAAI to serve as a benchmark.
Asked about the drop in quality of talent coming into agencies, Lakhani noted that if revenue drops year on year, one cannot pay for talent and added that it’s an industry-wide problem.
“Maybe we need to stop throwing warm bodies at every problem the client throws at you,” he said, underlining the need for bringing in customisation and technology within the agency fold.
After the era of scale and the era of digital, advertising was entering the era of sophistication, observed Khemka. Armed with full services, analytics and the like, everyone will have to unlearn and relearn for this sophistication, he contended.
Asked how agencies could move up the value chain to compete with consulting firms, Joshi said, “The only way is to train ourselves to be problem solvers rather than media planners. It’s not a TV solution, it’s an audio visual solution. We need to move from print to static planners, TV to audio visual planners, radio to audio planners.”
Balsara asked if it was time to break the perception of being “media agencies” who save clients money through effective planning and buying, and tell clients that they are partners who can help clients make money.
“There are clients who are willing to look at outcomes. We are moving in that direction and it works well for us. That’s going to be the future, where we are partners for growth,” responded Mishra.
A lot of work has started on attribution, noted Lakhani, adding that Mindshare has been working on an industry-wide metric for digital media. He urged the industry to come together seize that opportunity.
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